As more than 250,000 people took to the streets of London and other U.K. cities on Friday in protest of President Donald Trump and his policies, the U.S. leader told a baffled Piers Morgan that “many, many” of the demonstrations were actually pro-Trump.
“Some of them are protesting in my favor, you know that?” Trump told the British journalist aboard Air Force One on Friday evening. “There are many, many protests in my favor.”
Morgan, whose interview with the president was published Sunday in The Daily Mail, expressed his skepticism in the article.
“Hmmm. I must have missed those,” Morgan wrote.
A handful of pro-Trump demonstrations were organized in a number of U.K. cities on the day after the president’s interview with Morgan ― though they were dwarfed in size by the anti-Trump rallies.
The largest of the gatherings backing the president was a joint “Welcome Trump” and “Free Tommy Robinson” event in London on Saturday. Robinson is a far-right, anti-Muslim activist serving a 13-month prison sentence for contempt of court. A Trump ambassador reportedly lobbied the UK recently on his behalf.
According to The Sunday Express, about 500 people took part in Saturday’s demonstration.
Based on images shared on social media, other pro-Trump gatherings in cities including Manchester and Sheffield attracted far fewer attendees.
In his interview with Morgan, the president also spoke about his “easy talk” with Queen Elizabeth II, whom he’d met at Windsor Castle earlier on Friday. And as has been his pattern, he defended North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that while the two men are probably “ruthless,” he knows “plenty” of other people who are ruthless too.
Trump discussed giving British Prime Minister Theresa May advice about how to gain an advantage over the European Union in the Brexit negotiations. May revealed on Sunday that Trump’s suggestion had been for Britain to “sue the EU” and “not go into negotiations.”
